View full sizeTwo assaults Cleveland Police designated as hate crimes in less than a week at Cocktails bar on West 93rd Street and Detroit Avenue spurred debate in the LGBT community that was continued Tuesday night at a town hall meeting in Cleveland's Gordon Square.Cory Shaffer, Northeast Ohio Media Group

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There are two worlds: the one that exists, and the one that we want it to be.

Putting aside the fact that everyone’s ideal world looks different, the reality is, there are problems – violence against women, economic hardship, corruption – the list can go on and on.

But Tuesday night in Gordon Square, the focus for one group was on problems facing the LGBT community in Cleveland against a backdrop of recent news coverage of assaults designated as hate crimes by Cleveland police and some newly introduced legislation in the Statehouse and at City Hall.

Cleveland.com was there providing live updates from the meeting, but here are five things to take away from that meeting:

1. The meeting was a success

Members of the audience and the panel were pleased with the way the meeting went -- so much so that they are working to plan another. "The only thing I wish was different was that we would have had the date set for our next meeting," said Phyllis Harris, executive director of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.

2. There are problems

LGBT people have been targeted for their sexual orientation for years, but after 28-year-old Jared Fox was assaulted and robbed outside Cocktails Labor Day weekend and posted a video on YouTube, it set off media coverage that went national just as Cleveland passed the one-year mark from next summer’s Gay Games 9.

What was clear Tuesday night was that many assaults against LGBT individuals, just like sexual assaults, go unreported. As Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath, who attended the duration of the meeting, said: “If you get hurt out in the community, I’m responsible. But if you don’t report it, I don’t know about it.”

But, as one man in the audience pointed out, people often don’t report crimes based on sexual orientation because a lot of them aren’t “out” to their families or bosses, and in Ohio employers and landlords can fire or evict people based on sexual orientation. “You can be fired or kicked out of your home for being on the six o’clock news lying in a hospital bed for being a beaten up (gay person).”

3. But like facing all problems, being a neighborhood can help

Cleveland Community Policing Cmdr. Ellis Johnson asked how many people knew their neighbors in front of them, behind them and on either side, and only one person said they did. Johnson said getting to know your neighbors could go a long way toward making not just the LGBT community safer, but all neighborhoods safer.

4. Laws are being changed

Two attorneys – Alana Jochum from Squire Sanders and Maya Simek from Nueva Luz Urban Resource Center – tried to explain how current local, state and federal hate crime laws mingle, and it turns out the laws are patchy and complicated. For example, Simek said, the federal Mathew Sheperd and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act only covers physical crimes committed based on sexual orientation when it affects interstate commerce, there is no hate crime protection based on sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status or disability, and Cleveland city code only protects non-physical hate crimes, including vandalism and harassment.

State Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, sent a statement about her proposed state law to include sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to the state's hate crimes statute: "Hate is not an Ohio value," the statement said.

There are also efforts to expand legislation in City Hall, including a four-part proposal brought by Ward 3 City Councilman Joe Cimperman and supported by Ward 10 City Councilman Matt Zone and Ward 16 City Councilman Jay Westbrook, who were all in attendance Tuesday night.

5. LGBT Liaison?

Another topic discussed tonight was the work groups like the LGBT Community Center and the Diversity Center of Greater Cleveland are doing, partnering with school districts and Cleveland City Hall to strengthen resources for LGBT members of the community.

The LGBT Community Center is working on an LGBT cultural competency training curriculum to present to Cleveland Municipal School District staff to highlight the struggles LGBT youth face, and they are also working to establish a liaison in the Cleveland Police Department and/or City Hall, mirroring cities like Chicago and Cincinnati, Harris said.

City spokeswoman Maureen Harper said the idea of an LGBT liaison in the city's police department "is under consideration."

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